People's Democracy

Fourth Meeting Of The UPA, The Govt And The Left Parties

Following is the statement released after the fourth meeting of the Coordination Committee held at the prime minister’s residence on November 24.

THE Coordination Committee of the UPA, the government, and the Left Parties held their fourth meeting on November 24.

The meeting discussed the following issues:

• Price increase in petroleum products.

• Restoration of 9.5 per cent interest rate for EPF for the current year (2004-2005).

• Note given by the Left parties on review of certain provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003.

• Proposed amendment to the Patents Act.

• Road map to implement the notification of March 5, 2004 on FDI in Indian private banks.

The Left parties welcomed the agreement reached between the public sector banks and the unions in the wage negotiations, and complimented the government for playing a helpful role.

Dr Manmohan Singh, prime minister, Sonia Gandhi, chairperson, UPA, Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister, P Chidambaram, finance minister, Ahmed Patel, MP, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, A B Bardhan, CPI general secretary, D Raja, CPI secretary, Abani Roy, RSP secretary, Debabrata Biswas, Forward Bloc general secretary attended the meeting.